Retail careers can be made by playing the numbers

Ken Kuschei seen here at the Longo's heaquarters in Vaughan, Ontario Tuesday September 1, 2012, moved into retail analytics about 2 years ago.

Photograph by: Tim Fraser
, Postmedia News

Ken Kuschei has always loved numbers. But when he took on a job in retail analytics with Longo's two years ago, he raised his skills to a whole new level.

'I'm the one who gets to go through all the data Longo's collects, then I analyze it, and pull out patterns and opportunities to serve customers,' says the director of consumer insights for the Vaughan, Ont.-based grocery retailer.

Having previously worked as a business analyst and then with a loyalty program provider, he considers his jump to retail to be a lucky career break.

'I've always had a natural curiosity for numbers and reports and seeing how things are doing. Now that I'm in retail, I find the closeness to the customer makes the job extremely dynamic because things are always changing. And you get to see the impact your work is having on others.'

But when Kuschei looks for new people to join his team, there's more on his wish list than an affinity for numbers.

'One of the beauties of this field is that there are a lot of different skills that add value. With a good balance, we can get varied perspectives and insight into what data is telling us. So we look for people who are curious and have inquisitive minds that can push the envelope when we need to. Believe it or not, there's a lot of creativity that goes on with analytics.'

Retailers are increasingly creating dedicated roles for analytics professionals in an effort to sort out what consumers want, whether they're shopping online or in stores. Even universities and colleges are adapting programs to add a retail analytics slant to their curricula.

The Queen's School of Business in Kingston for example, is launching a 10-month master of management analytics program next summer.

'Predictions are that there will be a 50- to 60-per-cent talent gap in analytics by 2018,' says Yuri G. Levin, professor of management science and operations management. 'A lot of those will be retail jobs.'

Retailers have been sitting on piles of shopping data for years, mostly from loyalty programs, he says. 'What that has done is give them a wealth of data on who bought what at what time. Now the question retailers ask is, 'Where is the next opportunity?' That's why they're focusing more on analytics.'

Norman Shaw, an assistant professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University is also prepping to teach a new retail business analytics program being launched next spring. 'Computing power and data have just mushroomed. Facebook and Twitter, bar coding and RFID (radio frequency identification) have made a colossal amount of data more available. As the saying goes, retail is detail. And someone has to dig thought that data and analyze it.'

With all this explosion of data, there are some tremendous career opportunities, he adds. 'A need has always been there. But now that retailers can capture every detail about a transaction, they realize there is an enormous amount of things they can do with that data.'

As far as who fits the bill, Levin says basics start with an aptitude for math. 'But it's not enough to be strong analytically. Retail needs more than good technical training. The industry is looking for people who can communicate technical information in a way that managers can understand. You can't sell numbers if you can't communicate them.'

He adds that being a team player is equally important. 'People in retail careers have to deal with non-technical staff and managers. Otherwise you might do fantastic number-crunching work, but no one can use it. You have to be able to work with people, not just computers.'

Career opportunities will continue to grow as more senior executive look to consolidate information to make strategic decisions, Shaw notes. 'Anyone doing the job needs to have a good head for the retail business. You have to understand the whole supply chain flow, from the vendor to the consumer. I would say math skills are not as important as a good understanding of patterns. Software does a lot, but you have to know the questions to ask.'

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